Josh Powell was a suspect in the disappearance of Susan Powell from their West Valley City, Utah, home in 2009 but he maintained that he did not know what had happened to her.

He claimed he took his young sons, then four and two, camping on the freezing winter night around 12.30am, and said he believed his wife ran off with another man.

Weeks later, he moved the boys to the home of his fathe in Puyallup, Washington.

After Steven Powell's arrest, the boys were removed from the house and turned over to Susan Powell's parents.

Explosion: Josh Powell blew up his house, killing himself and his two sons

Authorities searched the desert for twelve days in the area where Josh Powell said he went camping that night.

At one point, they said they found a
'shallow grave' after cadaver dogs alerted them to the spot. But they
found no human remains.

In February Powell killed himself and his two sons, Charles and Braden, in a house fire.

A social worker had taken them to his rental home on February 5 for what was supposed to be a court-sanctioned supervised visit.

Devastated: Chuck and Judy Cox spoke out after their two grandsons, Charlie and Braden, were killed

Powell let the boys inside, locked the social worker out, hit them with a hatchet and set fire to gasoline, authorities said.

In the wake of the gas explosion,
Susan’s parents - Chuck and Judy Cox - spoke out about the revelations
that their grandchildren had made in the months leading up to the
explosion.

'Over the Christmas holidays, Chuck (Cox) sent me an email saying something like "Real important- one of the boys says if we go to the mine we will find mommy,"' Ann Bremner, one of the Cox's lawyers who was focusing on the disappearance of Susan, told MailOnline exclusively.

Ms Bremner said that Mr Cox immediately told police about the boy's admission, but nothing was done.